Weekend Project!

My Weekend Project

Otherwise known as the adventures of an

 incompetent/inexperienced/unknowledgeable DIY Project Manager!

(Sometimes you just have to learn by doing!)

I started with 4 Milk Crates

4' 4"   1 by 12 Pine Board

8  Carriage Bolts  5/16"  with 2" Length

8 Hex Nuts 5/16"

8 Wide Washers 5/16"

12 Zip Ties

Foam to Cover Top of Board

Fabric to cover board and foam

Staple Gun

Upholstry Tack Spray

(I wanted to use actual upholstry tack, but they were out)

 I zip-tied the four crates together

 Put the crates on the board and penciled in the hole where to drill Then Drilled in the center of each mark.

 Drilled and then inserted the carriage bolts

 I used the Upholstery Tack spray to adhere the foam to the board to prevent movment while putting the fabric on.

Stapled the ends and the sides then worked my way out 

I then put the washer on then the nut. Here is where I realized a 2 1/2 inch long bolt was way to long. But after umpteen trips to the Hardware Store to buy the wrong thing... I didn't care ;)

The Finished Project... You can see in the back ground I had 2 more. I ended up making three in all!

So what went wrong? I measured the benches correctly and knew how much fabric I needed. I just was a little to short on how much I bought. The vinyl if it had been a little bit wider it would've been perfect.  Buying bolts after going to the wrong unhelpful hardware store 2 times and being given the wrong thing. I wised up and went to the other one. I didn't measure how deep the bolts would have to go and bout 1 1/2" bolts which wasn't enough to fit all those layers. I also got a little carried away with the upholstery tack spray and almost had my fingers stuck together, it happens, at least to me!  Have someone around that uses Nail Polish Remover or a handy product called "GOOF OFF"! After all three projects were completed my brother came in and said "There is something called a Blind Bolt" I wanted to blind him! Why is the helpful info always shared after the fact? I know nothing about upholstery as well but I think it turned out okay! 

Next Steps:

We'll see how these hold up to kids! I am going to use them for winter boot storage at school.  When They are taking off boots/snow-pants/etc pretty soon the hallway is littered with snow paraphernalia.  I am trying to figure out what to put in the bottom of each crate to collect snow/dirt/snow I was thinking of carpet remnants, but if someone has a better idea please share!